Live online cohort
When AI writes the code, designers can lose control of the design details. In this small-group lab, you’ll learn to read a codebase, direct AI tools with intent, and deploy a real redesign to production, so you can keep your creative control while earning trust from engineers.
Led by Lai-Jing Chu, Design founder @ Syllabind
Discussions in small cohorts · Deploy to production · Design-forward · Engineering TA
Each week we meet on Zoom for 1.5 hours and walk through the readings, the exercises, and the real changes that we face relating to this topic. It’s not a webinar. Think design studio back in school — fewer than ten of us, with cameras on, exchanging ideas. We aspire to offer what typical online learning do not — get to know your peers as people, hold a dialogue with other disciplines, direct contact with VIP guests, and helpful accountability.
Between sessions you read on your own and chip away at one capstone: a deployed creative web project built with your newly acquired knowledge and skills. Expect 5-10 hours of workload a week between sessions — you get what you put into it!
Form your own opinion on creativity, coding, and design in the age of AI.
Communicate design specs and understand technical constraints with both human engineers and AI.
Navigate an unfamiliar codebase and locate where changes occur.
Use Git and GitHub to commit, branch, and open pull requests.
High level understanding of React.js, Tailwind, Shadcn/UI, etc.
Create, maintain, and implement a design system with AI.
Rebuild a designed interface in code to match an existing design system.
Update both Figma and code with a single prompt.
Debug code methodically.
Launch a simple website on GitHub Pages.
It’s a workshop for product designers who want to understand code, work more effectively with engineers, and use AI to bring their designs closer to implementation. We’ll use AI tools, but the point isn’t to memorize prompts or chase every new release.
We’ll look at what’s happening under the hood: how frontend code is structured, how design systems translate into code, and how to make deliberate changes instead of getting stuck in a prompt loop. You don’t need to become an engineer, but you do need enough understanding to guide the work and evaluate what comes back.
You don’t need extensive coding experience to start learning with Syllabind.
It helps to understand what HTML, CSS, and JavaScript each do and to have the courage to look into a code file without averting your eyes. You don’t need to write an application from scratch or memorize syntax.
Most participants find that the amount of coding knowledge that they absorbed through osmosis while working in product teams is sufficient.
The ability to read code is more important than the ability to write it, and reading is more necessary here. It is also much easier to do so now with the patient help of AI.
If those concepts are new to you, read through Syllabind’s “Frontend Code Literacy for Product Designers” binder. It explains them through ideas you already use in design, including layout, hierarchy, and interaction logic. Your workshop package includes that content for free.
Submit an application form first. We want to make sure you are a fit since the group is small and exclusive. Once we’ve reviewed your application and confirmed that you’re a good fit, we will send you a payment link.
As a reference, participants in the pilot spent roughly 5–10 hours a week on the workshop, including reading, practice, and project work. Live sessions are 90 minutes, during which you are expected to participate actively as a group member. How much time you spend will also depend on your starting point and how ambitious you want to be with your project.
This is an active learning experience, not just a webinar to watch. You’ll get more from it if you make time to try things between sessions.
If you’re struggling to make changes to an AI-generated prototype, keep Figma and code aligned, or improve design-engineering collaboration in teams, this workshop is designed around those problems.
The resources alone are something you can work through independently. The reason to join a live cohort is the opportunity to ask questions, share work, get feedback, and learn alongside other designers. In the pilot, those exchanges were some of the most valuable parts of the experience.
If you only want a quick introduction to an AI tool, or you already work comfortably in frontend code, you may not need the full workshop.
If you are hesitant, you are more than welcome to book a free consultation call at any time to see if this workshop is what you’re looking for.
Since this is an active group and each team member contributes heavily to the value of each session, we ask that you try your best to attend. That said, life happens — if you absolutely cannot make it, you will still be able to catch up with session recordings and AI notes. You can also reach the facilitator and your peers through Slack.
If the facilitator cannot make the session due to unexpected circumstances or illness, she will let you know as soon as possible, and, by default, the session will be automatically rescheduled for the following week.
If the full program cannot be delivered for whatever reason, we will contact you with the available options, including any applicable refund.
You’ll work toward launching a web project to production — although anyone can do that now with a couple of prompts, and launching is only the start. What really matters at the end of the workshop is having a confident grasp of the codebase behind the web project. Now, in the AI era, code literacy is increasingly turning into an implicit core competency for most product design jobs in the market.
The workshop includes project sharing, live critique, and written feedback using an assessment rubric, which is extremely rare for online learning platforms.
Many companies are open to sponsoring your continual learning, especially now given the sea changes that we all need to navigate in the AI era.
Frame it around a problem you’re working on, rather than simply wanting to learn an AI tool. That might be improving handoff, keeping prototypes aligned with your design system, or making small frontend changes easier to discuss and review with engineers. Include the syllabus, schedule, and price so your manager can assess the request.
Syllabind has prepared an email template that you could use when approaching your manager.
The material uses Figma, AI coding tools such as Cursor or Claude Code, and Git/GitHub workflows. You are responsible for any subscription payments tied to these tools. (Figma Education licenses are pending and are not guaranteed at the moment.)
You can request a refund within 14 days of purchase, or at any time before the second session begins—whichever is later. You’re welcome to attend the first session before deciding; attending it does not waive your right to a refund.
To request a refund, email support@syllabind.com with the email address you used for your purchase and your receipt or relevant transaction details.
If you’re experiencing financial hardship or unemployment and have trouble affording the workshop, feel free to email support@syllabind.com, and we’ll try to work something out for you.